Hypericum foliosum Quality Botanical and Chemical Markers and In Vitro Antioxidant and Anticancer Activities

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 5; p. 1087
• Main Authors: Caldeira, Gonçalo Infante, Zhang, Guanghong, Gouveia, Luís Pleno, Videira, Mafalda, Serrano, Rita, Silva, Olga
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.03.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Animal models; Anticancer properties; Antidepressants; Antihypertensives; antioxidant; Antioxidants; Biological activity; Breast cancer; Cancer; Colon cancer; Cytotoxicity; Dichloromethane; Diuretics; Endemic species; Ethanol; Herbal medicine; Hypericum; Hypericum foliosum; Lung cancer; malfurada; medicinal plant; Medicinal plants; Metabolites; Morphology; Plant species; Plants (botany); quality monograph; Taxonomy; quality monograph; antioxidant; Hypericum foliosum; malfurada; medicinal plant; herbal medicine; cytotoxicity
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants12051087

Aiton is an endemic Azorean species. Even though the aerial parts of are not described in any official pharmacopoeia, they are utilized in local traditional medicine due to their diuretic, hepatoprotective, and antihypertensive properties. This plant has previously been the subject of phytochemical characterization and has been studied for its antidepressant activity, showing significant results in animal models. The lack of a description of the main characteristics of the aerial parts, which would be necessary to properly identify this medicinal plant species, contributes to the possibility of misidentification events. We performed macroscopic and microscopic analyses that identified specific differential characteristics, such as the absence of dark glands, the dimensions of the secretory pockets in the leaf, and the presence of translucent glands in the powder. To continue our previous work on the biological activity of , ethanol, dichloromethane/ethanol, and water extracts were prepared and studied for their antioxidant and cytotoxic activity. Extracts showed in vitro selective cytotoxic activity in human lung cancer cell line A549, colon cancer cell line HCT 8, and breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231, with dichloromethane/ethanol showing higher activity against all cell lines (IC values of 71.49, 27.31, and 9.51 µg/mL, respectively). All extracts also showed significant antioxidant activity.